How To Play OGG Files On Windows 10

Universal file viewers are not as universal as they claim to be. Some apps specialize in playing certain types of files while others can play the more common ones. For example, any and all media players can play an MP4 file but not all can play an MKV file. Windows 10 is the first version of Windows that natively supports MKV files but there are exceptions there as well. You will find there are certain MKV files that Windows 10 still cannot play. This is because media files require a codec to be installed before an app can play them. If the codec isn’t there, the file cannot be played. This is why you can’t play OGG files in Windows 10.

You have the option to install the codec needed to play OGG files in Windows 10 but they come at a price. The good news is, Microsoft has released Web Media Extensions that allow you to play OGG, Vorbis and Theora files on Windows 10. The bad news is, it’s not quite ready for its public release.

Install Web Media Extensions

In order to pay OGG files, you need to install the Web Media Extensions app by Microsoft. It’s a free app available in the Windows Store. Install it, and you will be able to play OGG files on Windows 10.

Limitations

This is a half-cooked solution. As per the app’s description, you will be able to play OGG files in Edge and other apps. Those ‘other apps’ don’t include the Movies & TV app, Internet Explorer, or Windows Media Player. Codecs are supposed to work with any app that supports them so it looks as though Microsoft might have released the web media extensions app prematurely.

There aren’t any apps that are able to read the codec and use it to play these files just yet. It’s possible that this has to do with a future version of Edge or a future build of Windows 10.

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Alternative

A simple way to work around this limitation is to just use VLC player instead. It’s the closest thing there is to a universal media player and if you don’t already have it on your system, you’re missing out. The app is feature rich and every media playback feature that Microsoft removed from Windows is more than made-up for in VLC player. It can even play most MKV files but you will find exceptions here in which case you might have to use an app like PotPlayer.

OGG, or .oga and ogv files aren’t very common just yet but they are used for online streaming. They support metadata and subtitles so it never hurts to have an app on-hand that can play the file type.